Current technology for testing, measuring, detecting or otherwise sensing a target property of e.g. a biological sample or an environmental sample can be bulky, complex to use and expensive to operate. Such technology may be limited to a laboratory setting which can accommodate the necessary equipment and provide staffing for using the equipment. Specialist expertise is sometimes required to provide a reliable sample testing service. Due to the relatively high cost of operating such laboratories there may only be one or several laboratories providing testing services for a relatively large population. As such, there can be a considerable backlog of samples requiring testing, thereby causing undesirable delays in diagnosing e.g. a medical condition, identifying an environmental problem, or providing any other form of testing.
Therefore there has been an interest in developing technology for testing samples in the field or in wider clinical practice. Providing at least some of the functionality of a laboratory within a smaller footprint, for example on a chip, is sometimes known as “lab-on-a-chip” technology. There have been various attempts to provide lab-on-a-chip solutions to clinical tasks such as diagnosis, as well as various other tasks requiring laboratory-level services. However, to provide the necessary functionality and reliability, there is sometimes a need to provide additional equipment which may hinder or prevent in-the-field testing or use in wider clinical practice. Some examples of “lab-on-a-chip” technology suitable for testing samples in the field or in wider clinical practice may be considered to be relatively difficult to build or package. Further, the technology may be relatively delicate and/or susceptible to breakage or failure.
One trend has been to harness the functionality of the so-called “smartphone” to provide in-the-field testing. The computational power of the inbuilt processor of the smartphone, alongside simple touchscreen interfacing, and good quality image-taking and lighting capabilities has increased interest in this technology. There have been attempts to interface smartphone technology with sensing technology such as external spectrometers and the like, but there have been difficulties in terms of handling alignment-sensitivity and shock-sensitivity. Such technology may have the potential for providing solutions to clinical and other problems, but may not necessarily be able to provide the same level of quality control and consistency which may be achievable in a formal laboratory setting.
Therefore, there may be a preference to provide at least one improved way to test samples in the field.